Brian Flores - Pittsburgh Steelers senior defensive assistant/LB coach
Sean Desai - Seattle Seahawks associate head coach-defense
Ryan Nielsen - New Orleans Saints co-defensive coordinator/DL coach
Mike Pettine - Minnesota Vikings assistant head coach
Since then, nothing has happened yet plenty has happened. The Vikings still don’t have a defensive coordinator. They do have fewer candidates for the job. The Atlanta Falcons hired Ryan Nielsen as their new defensive coordinator. Yesterday, Sean Desai withdrew from consideration for the Vikings job as he focuses on securing the same position with the Denver Broncos. An apparently re-invigorated Sean Payton is the new head coach there. That annoying little scrapper and the Broncos are now a hindrance in the Vikings attempt to find and hire a new defensive coordinator.
A year ago, new Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett hired Los Angeles Rams secondary coach and passing game coordinator Ejiro Evero as his defensive coordinator. There’s a good chance that he was also the top defensive coordinator choice of soon-to-be Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell. We’ll probably never know for sure. We do know that O’Connell is interested now. The Vikings have requested an interview with Evero. Payton and the Broncos have reportedly blocked that request. Typical.
The Broncos have the right to block interview requests for lateral moves. It’s typically done when the team has every intention of keeping that coach. I’ve seen some people mention that Mike Zimmer blocked Kevin Stefanski from making a lateral move to coach with Pat Shurmur in New York. There’s a big difference in that Stefanski was the Vikings offensive coordinator job and was going to remain their offensive coordinator. Payton has put Evero in a state of limbo. He might keep his defensive coordinator job with the Broncos but Payton is bringing in other candidates to interview for his job. Classy. Evero is forced to sit and watch these other candidates interview for his job while he can’t do the same for other teams. Not only is Payton keeping Evero from interviewing with the Vikings he’s also interviewing their candidates. Flores and Desai are reportedly coming to Denver for interviews. While Payton might try, it’s unlikely that he hires all three. Hopefully, he hires Desai as he’s already removed himself as a Vikings defensive coordinator candidate. That would also free Evero to perhaps come to Minnesota.
So, the Vikings defensive coordinator search has apparently come down to two.
Brian Flores
Ejiro Evero
And perhaps Mike Pettine as a fallback option?
While I really like Desai, Flores and Evero have become my favorites for the job. I’m thrilled with the potential of either. But the Broncos are gumming up the process.
It’s not just the Broncos. Flores and Evero are apparently still candidates for the vacant head coach jobs of the Arizona Cardinals and Indianapolis Colts.
I wish that all the teams involved would make their decisions soon. Then the Vikings can finally find their defensive coordinator.
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